Chapter 211: Trapped
"Quickstep!"
My body instantly moved forward a few meters. And within seconds, I was already close to Adu. I clearly remembered Maya’s warning about the danger of fighting him at close range.
I could just spam my skills to eliminate him, but after seeing how he used other participants as shields, I assumed he could pull in more people to cover himself. And with the event already past the half-hour mark and the arena in complete chaos, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that he had already marked many others, ready to use them whenever needed.
And worse, what if he had already marked my comrades like William or Blackburn, and I accidentally attacked them? I could never forgive myself if that happened. That’s why I would focus on dealing with him up close while making sure not to get marked.
I swung my sword horizontally toward Adu. He crouched, then pushed himself forward, extending his hand. I rotated my body to evade and knocked his elbow aside as his hand passed me. Adu stumbled forward, but immediately followed up with a backward kick, which I blocked with my sword.
He then twisted his body and swung his metal staff toward me. I instinctively leaned back, just inches away from the staff brushing my nose. His other hand moved again, trying to grab me, but I quickly pushed myself away, leaving him grasping empty air.
"You have quick reactions, I will give you that. I’m quite mesmerized by your abilities. Using both magic and physical skills... what class are you, exactly? A hybrid class?" Adu asked.
"You don’t need to know." I rushed toward him again. After that last exchange, I could roughly guess his type. He must be using a magic-based class, his reactions weren’t as fast as those of a physical fighter. If I kept applying pressure, he would eventually leave an opening for me to exploit.
A fierce battle erupted between us. The sound of my swords clashing against his metal staff echoed throughout the arena. Most of the crowd had now shifted their attention to our fight, even though other battles were still ongoing.
And finally, after a few minutes, Adu’s focus started to lapse as I intensified my attacks. I could see his defense weakening as his blocks becoming less stable.
Adu brought his metal staff down toward me. This was the moment I had been waiting for.
"Parry!"
"What?!"
PING!
I swung both my swords at the same time, forming an X-cross to deflect his attack. The impact forced his body backward, breaking his stance completely.
Parry is one of the core skills of the [Blader] class, it’s like bread and butter for that class users. A perfectly timed parry can change the entire flow of a battle, and right now was that moment. A wide opening was exposed, waiting for me to exploit it.
"What a good parry," Mark commented as he and Lee were watching the fight from one of the stands.
"Tch! That guy is such a showoff! How can he have the same class as me? I thought he was a magic-based fighter?" Lee complained. But deep down, he was impressed by my timing.
’ It’s not just good... it’s perfect.’
All the spectators were astonished by my performance, and right now, they believed I would deliver the final blow and win the battle, one hundred percent. I thought the same. I readied my stance to finish him with [Dash Slash].
But against an expert, victory is never guaranteed.
Suddenly, a fast object cut through the air. It was so quick I couldn’t even react.
Swoosh!
"Arrggh!"
I screamed in pain as my [Dash Slash] execution failed. I dropped to one knee and saw a knife impaled in my right hip. Blood began dripping onto the ground.
"What? How? I didn’t even touch him. How did he pull that toward me?"
I was confused. From what Maya told me, Adu could only pull and push objects centered around himself and those he had marked. So how did that knife fly straight toward me when he hadn’t touched me?
"Hehehe. You must be really confused right now. And you should be. Because right now... you’re already trapped in my web," Adu laughed.
"Trapped? What do you mean?"
"Do you think I was just taking all your attacks without thinking? While you were busy looking for an opening, I was already one step ahead and setting up a trap."
He then extended his hand, revealing the weapons scattered across the ground. Spears, swords, knives, arrows, each of them pointed directly at me.
"Alan!" Maya ran toward me.
"No, Maya! Stay away! It’s dangerous!" I shouted at her. Right now, I was surrounded by weapons that had been marked and were all aimed at me. I didn’t want Maya to get involved as it would only make things harder for me to protect both of us. I needed to figure out how he was targeting me so easily. Was I already marked? And how would I even know if I was?
As my mind raced, I pulled out the knife and quickly healed the wound.
’Hehehe. He still hasn’t figured it out yet. Do you think I need to touch you to activate my skill? I’m not that stupid!’ Adu smirked.
Maya, seeing how dangerous the situation was, backed away and ran off to find William and Blackburn. They would need to work together if they wanted to take down Adu.
After the wound was roughly healed and the bleeding stopped, I managed to stand on both legs, the pain in my hip now slightly bearable. Sweat poured down my forehead as I stood at point-blank range, surrounded by weapons that could fly toward me at any moment. I raised my swords and fixed my gaze on Adu.
I needed to find the weakness of his skill, fast. But first things first... I had to deal with these weapons.
And there was only one way to do it.